Posts: OllieFCR | Ugly Hedgehog

Megapixel advice wanted.

lmTrying wrote:

My alias is modelbuilder1. I enjoy building scale ... (show quote)

Going with 24 vs 20 mp will only increase resolution by 10%. (It goes by square root) Unless you are making huge prints you will not notice the difference. Other suggestions are right on. You need a good lens first and to shoot where you have a depth of field that will keep everything in acceptable focus. For close ups you might need a macro lens. Focus stacking is a good solution also but will require that you use a tripod. The double flash set-up is also a great idea to use as either the main light or fill light.

Jan 23, 2018 09:01:10 #

Trip to Death Valley in mid-Febuary

"Walk to and through the dunes"

Jan 23, 2018 09:00:05 #

Trip to Death Valley in mid-Febuary

Much of the good stuff has been covered in earlier replies. I would say that the sand dunes by Stovepipe Wells are best in the early morning, especially after a windy night although you do not want it windy when you go (tough on equipment and you). Otherwise, there will be more people and lots of footprints on the dunes. Allow enough time to walk and through the dunes to pick out your spot(s) as it is further than it looks, maybe an hour before sunrise.

Jan 22, 2018 09:07:05 #

HDR photography

An alternative way to get an HDR image is to use luminosity blending in Photoshop. It often gives a more "natural" looking image. You still need to expose a number of images the same way you would to use HDR software. There are a number of plug-ins available online that streamline the process. The basic idea is to use luminosity masks to control parts of the image based on the light intensity.

Jan 12, 2018 07:35:40 #

Information regarding Banff, Jasper National Parks

I visited in the middle of September and there was some light snow, especially in the higher elevations. Perfect for photography, especially when there were some clouds around the summits. Absolutely no crowds or traffic that time of year. Still plenty of hiking opportunities without snow at lower elevations. Perfect in my opinion.

Jan 12, 2018 07:30:09 #

Information regarding Banff, Jasper National Parks

Some excellent hikes are: Parker Ridge (relatively easy with 360 views at top) with some of best views in the parks, Sunshine Meadows (long scenic gondola ride to high elevation alpine meadows, hike around several lakes, easy to medium difficulty depending on what you want), and Petyto Lake (make sure you hike past the observation deck area to higher elevation as the views are much better and chances are you will be the only one there for excellent lake and glacier views). Those are some of my favorites that are easily accessible but there are lots more and fantastic views just from the road pull offs.

Jan 10, 2018 12:10:56 #

Live View always.

Jan 10, 2018 11:49:36 #

Thanks. Your advice is very reasonable. I am mostly shooting birds as amateur. Most are posted on internet and sharpness is very key with birds.

Jan 10, 2018 10:21:25 #

I did return it.

Jan 10, 2018 10:17:39 #

I should have added that I manually focused in both cases.

Jan 10, 2018 09:10:34 #

I recently purchased a Canon 1.4 extender to go with my 100-400mm Mark II Canon lens and 7D Mark II camera. As a test I mounted the camera and lens on a tripod with and without the extender. At 400mm I took pics of a sign some distance away with various sizes of text. When the photo without the extender was cropped to the same size (i.e. content) as the one with the extender it had significantly better resolution and contrast than the photo with the extender. I was surprised and disappointed by this. The question is then, why use the extender given the extra expense and loss in aperture?